THE ROAD TO FREEDOM
The London to Brighton Veteran Car Run began as a celebration of changes to motoring rules – but there are still plenty of battles to be fought
Revolutions tend to start off slowly before an eruption takes place. And the growing anger building up among Britain’s 30million-plus motorists is one that the Government ignores at its peril.
towards the end of the Cold War, i was in the soviet union to report on a visit by then education secretary Kenneth Baker, who was carrying out his own schools revolution in Britain.
in a packed lecture hall at Moscow state university, Baker delivered a speech depicting everyday life in the UK where young schoolchildren could photocopy their work (there was only one photocopier in the entire university and permission was needed to use it to avoid the publishing of seditious material).
then came Baker’s masterstroke when he explained how, in the earliest days of the motor car, the forces of reaction tried to stifle progress of the new machine by insisting that a man walk in front ‘carrying a Red Flag’.
the hall erupted in cheers — as the audience instantly made the link between the fluttering red symbol of revolutionary socialism and the bureaucratic brake put on early automobiles.
He was also referring to an event commemorated by the annual london to Brighton veteran Car Run, which takes place this sunday, organised by the Royal Automobile Club in Pall Mall with the support of auctioneers RM sotheby’s.
to many, it is simply a vintage automotive jollity with a touch of dressing up, but what it actually celebrates is the first revolutionary act — and possibly not the last — of the motorist.
MAKING A START
THE first celebration — called the ‘emancipation Run’ — was held on a wet saturday, november 14, 1896.
After much campaigning, a group of early motorists set off from london to Brighton to celebrate the passing into law of the locomotive on Highways Act.
this increased the speed limit for ‘light locomotives’ from 4mph to 14mph, effectively ending centuries of horse-drawn transport and allowing motorised vehicles ‘the freedom of the road’. significantly, it removed the need for a man to proceed in front of the vehicle, at walking pace, carrying the hated Red Flag.
the original limit (and the Red Flag) had been introduced to control the speed of huge steam tractors and threshing machines when moving between farms. But technology had advanced so quickly the law had failed to keep pace. the Autocar magazine, founded a year earlier, celebrated the motorists’ victory with a special ‘red-letter-day’ issue, printed entirely in red ink, noting: ‘today . . . marks the throwing open of the highways and byeways of our beautiful country.’
Ben Cussons, chairman of the Royal Automobile Club which has organised the event since 1930, said: ‘it was a seminal moment. the new law was a life-changer in so many ways — it totally transformed the perspectives of social mobility and personal freedoms and, of course, spawned exciting new industries.’
CHARGING FORWARD
THIS year more than 320 pioneering ‘horseless carriages’ from the dawn of motoring will leave Hyde Park in london at sunrise on sunday and make the same 60-mile
journey to Brighton as those early motorists 125 years ago.
Every vehicle dates pre-1905 — some powered by combustion engines, others by steam and even electricity. The oldest car lining up in Hyde Park will be an intrepid single-cylinder 1894 Benz.
By tradition, the celebration begins with the tearing up of a Red Flag by one or more of the participating celebrities. This year the honour is expected to fall to the fastest man on Earth, former Wing Commander Andy Green OBE, the World Land Speed Record holder, who topped 760mph in Thrust SSC back in 1997. Tomorrow (November 6 on the eve of the run) the UK’s biggest free-to-view celebration of the automobile takes place — London’s Regent Street Motor Show (regentstreetmotorshow.com) — featuring cars old and modern as well as attractions for visitors of all ages.
PERPETUAL MOTION
THERE have been motoring revolts since the beginning of the industry, of course.
And the delivery driver shortage showed recently just how fragile supply lines can be when there is even a hint of panic buying. Howard Cox, founder of the campaign group FairFuel UK, says motorists are getting increasingly angry, and frustrated given that they are ‘demonised’ by local and national government policymakers.
‘Petrol and diesel drivers face an uncontrolled pump pricing lottery, enforced local authority congestion, and clean air charges,’ he said.
‘UK drivers are still some of the highest taxed motorists in the world, so the Chancellor should make a start by cutting fuel duty by 3p a litre to ease the burden of record fuel prices.’ As the 125th annual London to Brighton Veteran Car Run gets under way to celebrate one motoring revolution, the question for today’s politicians is will they risk raising the red flag on motorists again?
More details of Sunday’s London to Brighton Veteran Car run: veterancarrun.com/